We're All Mad Here
by Assimbya
Summary: AU. If Jonathan never went to the Carpathians, and Dracula's plans ended up only targeting Mina. Without any previous experience in such matters, no one would be very inclined to believe her...


August 15th, 1893, the Journal of Doctor Seward

We have admitted a new patient today, one Miss Mina Murray, who is a good friend of Lucy's. The poor girl, her eyes were glistening with tears as she told me about Miss Murray's sad case. Apparently she was perfectly healthy until a little while ago when she began to have fits, speaking of voices in her mind and demons in her bedroom during the night. During such times she tries to harm herself, so I have heard. And for the last week she has spent most of the daylight hours in heavy sleep. She has a fiancée, Mr. Jonathan Harker, who looked saddened but resolute when he brought Miss Murray here. My heart went out to him, especially after my recent disappointment as regards Lucy. I did my best to reassure him that his fiancée would be well cared for, and that he would have a chance to visit her.

As for the woman herself, she seemed quite docile when brought here, though it is still afternoon, and her fits apparently take place at night. She was very quiet, and sometimes I wondered if she heard what I said at all. I have placed her in the empty room beside Renfield's, and done my best to make it fit for a friend of Lucy's. Like Renfield's room, it looks out over Carfax Abbey. That reminds me, the Romanian Count who had bought that ruin is to arrive quite soon. I look forward to meeting him, for he could become a possible benefactor of the asylum.

I must confess, part of my reason for being so concerned with the case of Miss Murray is how dear she is to Lucy. Though I know that in only a little more than a month she is to be married to Arthur, I cannot but wish to earn her good graces. My feelings for her have not dimmed even though I know that they should be doing so.

Later that evening, the notebook of Renfield

The woman the He has marked as His own has been brought here, to this mortal Hell where I dwell till He brings me away as He has promised. Finally, all my work will be rewarded, for this has made it possible for Him to enter and continue taking her life.

I hope that He will share her life with me, though I barely dare hope so far. She is pale from the many nights of His visits, but she still has much blood in her. Surely He will not be stingy with His own! I have waited so long for that which He has promised me; he has given me the flies, the spiders, the birds, but oh, how much more life could be taken from a human being! He has the privilege of rich human blood every night, some day me must let me have at least a taste! But I shall have all the rich sweet blood I want when His blood is inside of me; so he has often said. Patience is of the essence, as it always must be if I wish to serve the Master completely.

His power grows now! Oh! Soon enough they shall see, they shall all see! And I will walk with Him and all will see that I was right, that they were wrong in placing me here!

So this was what it had come to. Mina sat on the cot in her room, her hand curled around the metal of the grating that covered the window, watching the sunset with dread. She had tried to tell Jonathan and Lucy of what was happening, she had screamed in her fear, so that someone, anyone would come, and by the time they arrived he had always turned into mist and she was left there sobbing, half drained of blood. And then, for the simple crime of not wanting to be preyed on by this monster any longer, she had been locked up here.

She didn't blame Jonathan, of course not. How was he supposed to know that she was not insane? Perhaps she was. Perhaps this was truly the best place for her. But that thought was not comforting. At the complete despair of her situation Mina lay down on the bed and curled up, letting herself cry.

At least she might have one night free of him. He had told her often of how he needed to be invited before he could enter a house, and he had gloated about how she had unwittingly done so, especially when she teetered on the edge of consciousness, being sure to make his words the last things she heard before she fell into oblivion. She knew he would coerce her into inviting him inside here as well eventually, but hopefully she could hold out for a little while. Being able to sleep soundly would be such a blessing, even though she doubted she would be able to sleep in such a place.

As the familiar mist began to enter the room Mina began to shiver, and then to scream.

August 16th, Dr. Seward's Journal

Last night, Miss Murray began screaming a little while after sunset. I came as soon as I heard, bringing two of the attendants with me in case it was necessary to restrain her. When we arrived she was sobbing, collapsed on the floor of her room. Blood was flowing freely from a wound on her neck, which I noticed, when I examined it later, was very odd. It was actually made up of two marks, which seemed to be some sort of bite mark, though I suppose they could be from the poor woman attempting to stab herself as well.

When she saw us enter she called out to us piteously, "Please, help me, he'll come back and hurt me again…" I wanted then so much to help this poor soul who has clearly suffered some great hurt that has caused her to have these awful delusions. Afraid that the woman might lash out at me, believing me to be the demon of her imagination, I filled a needle with a drug to make her lose consciousness so that she could get some rest and I could tend to the wound on her neck. I knelt next to her and she looked at me with her eyes filled with fear. "Don't worry, this shall only hurt a little and then you will be able to rest." I told her to reassure her. She winced as I took her arm gently, but didn't wince when I injected the needle into a vein there. Very odd.

Renfield has also been in a state of great agitation since yesterday. One of the attendants is bringing Miss Murray here now so that I can interview her in an attempt to discover the cause of her delusions, and after that I shall have another interview with Renfield. I fear that this shall be a tiring day.

When Mina awoke she found that a bandage had been placed over the marks on her neck from the last night. _He won't like that._ She thought with a bitter smile. Someone brought breakfast, which was tea and some porridge, which she ate even though it tasted like ashes to her. Soon after, another of the people working there came to bring her for an interview with that Doctor – Seward, his name was. The one who had liked Lucy. Wanted to marry her, actually.

As she followed the attendant to the Doctor's office, she passed by the room of a man who, strangely, seemed to recognize her. His voice was harsh, cruel. "Good morning, Countess."

The title impacted her as though she had been physically hit. "Why do you call me that?" Her voice was quiet, barely audible. She had rarely spoken louder during the days. He smiled, this madman who somehow knew what was happening to her. "Well, you're His bride. So that makes you a Countess."

She screamed, her voice practically a shriek, "I'm not his bride!" and tried to attack him, not caring what happened to her. But she was pulled away by the attendants nearby, who restrained her as she continued to scream, "I'm not his bride!" over and over, until her voice dissolved into sobs.

August 16th, Dr. Seward's Journal, later that day

When Miss Murray was brought to my office for an interview, she had been restrained by the attendants, as she had on the way attempted to attack Renfield after he apparently said something to provoke her. I must make a note to keep the two of them separated. As she seemed perfectly docile when brought her, I asked the attendants to remove the restraints, though they waited close at hand should she show any signs of becoming unpredictable again. Here follows a transcription of my interview with the woman:

I asked her first "Miss Murray, why did you attack Mr. Renfield?"

She didn't look at me, and kept her eyes lowered. "He said that I was the Count's bride."

The Count! Perhaps this was the key to her delusions. "And who is the Count?"

This time she looked straight at me, her eyes unnervingly calm though they were filled with a pain that I can only attempt to describe here. "The one who attacked me last night, and all the nights before that."

It seems that what happened is that someone – presumably this Count – did something to hurt her at some point, and she was so affected by it that she now has delusions of him returning and hurting her again. But surely then her fiancée would have told me about the event when he brought Miss Murray here…and how did Renfield know? "Why would Mr. Renfield say something like that?"

Her voice was too bitter for a woman of her age – 23, to be exact. "Because the Count wants to make me one of his whores."

I was shocked to hear such language from a lady, and one who is Lucy's friend. She noticed this, and smiled, still bitterly. "Surprised? You shouldn't be. A proper young lady wouldn't exactly find herself trapped in this asylum, would she? Of course, I would be a proper young lady were it not for the Count. But then, you don't believe that he exists, do you?"

My next words were cautious. " Miss Murray, I believe that you have been hurt very much –"

She laughed. "Hurt! You have no idea." Before I could stop her, she pulled the bandage from the wound on her neck. Indicating it, she said, her voice holding an edge of hysteria. "Who do you think did this to me?"

I kept my voice cautious. "I think that you, in a fit of delusions, did it to herself."

"_He _did it to me. He sunk his fangs into my neck and drank my blood."

This must have been what Mr. Harker meant when he told about her fears of demons. I made my voice as soothing as possible. "I am a Christian man, and I understand that you are afraid for your soul, but –"

For the second time in our conversation, she cut me off, and in the firmness in her tone I thought I could see an echo of the woman she had been before these tragic delusions came upon her. "This has nothing to do with religion, Doctor Seward, and neither does it have anything to do with the state of my soul. All I know is what has happened to me. And, I assure you, Doctor, _I am not insane."_

After saying those words, she spoke no more. I tried to entreat her to speak more, as I seemed to have reached something close to the heart of her troubles, but she kept her eyes lowered and twined her fingers together in her lap, not speaking. When this had gone on for some time and I didn't seem likely to make any more progress that day, I had the attendants bring her back to her room.

Next is my interview with Renfield.

Later:

My interview with Renfield, also, was very interesting. Here is a transcription of that as well:

I started the conversation out civilly. "How have you been, Mr. Renfield?"

His answer surprised me. "What matters, Doctor, is not how I am now, but how I shall be."

"Why is that?"

Here he was positively gleeful. "The time when I shall be at the side of the Master draws ever nearer. My aid has fulfilled its purpose, and now he is certain to reward me!" For a moment he looked a bit worried, but that dissipated quickly. "I should not have said that. But soon it won't matter, when I am far gone from here!"

It was unusual for him to give me such a clear window into his madness, so I was resolved to see as far as I could. "Where shall you be, if you are leaving so soon?"

But he was back to his old ways of secrecy. "You aren't to know that." And then he smiled, as one who knows a great secret. "But soon you will lose two of your patients, Doctor."

Perhaps here was my chance to find out what his connection to Miss Murray was. "There is no one I intend to discharge from the asylum any time soon, Mr. Renfield."

He looked at me as though I was a great fool, which surely he must think me to be. "No, of course _you _won't be letting her go! It's the Master who will be taking her away, when he takes me!"

"Who are you talking about?" I thought I knew, but I was not certain.

His tone was strangely filled with contempt, which surprised me. "The ungrateful Countess Mina."

I had been right! "Why do you speak of Miss Murray in such a fashion, with that insulting tone of voice?"

He nearly hissed. "Because she's been given the gift of being His chosen and yet she doesn't appreciate it!"

So Miss Murray's Count was also Renfield's Master! This was a remarkable coincidence indeed. "What has Miss Murray been chosen for?"

This seemed to be all I'd get from him today, however. "I've said too much already." And, just like Miss Murray, he refused to speak any more.

There seems to me to be a clear conclusion to get from this. There was at some point a man, a Count, who harmed Miss Murray somehow, and traumatized her such that she began to think him a demon, and one who would continue to haunt her. From Renfield's insistence, that this man had "chosen" her, I would imagine that he was a rich man who wished to keep the contemptible practice of having a woman of lesser means (for Miss Murray and Mr. Harker are by no means rich) as a concubine. Renfield seems to have attached to this same man with an almost religious devotion, and reacts to Miss Murray's feelings about him with the according disdain.

I remember also that the man who will be soon arriving at Carfax Abbey is a Count as well. Most likely that as well is an odd coincidence, but somehow it troubles me.

The notebook of Renfield

The Master is angry with me for saying so much to the Doctor, but he is more angry with _her. _Maybe to punish her He shall let me have a taste of her life, even just a drop…I know it would be so much richer than that of the other creatures! But I shall not complain. I know what gifts He has given me already, and what gifts He shall give me in the future. I await His coming eagerly.

August 17th, Dr. Seward's Journal

Luckily, last night our rest was not disturbed by Miss Murray's screams, but when one of the attendants went to her room to bring her breakfast she was found lying in her bed still asleep, completely naked and with her neck and shoulders practically covered with her blood. As many of the attendants here are men from the lower classes, some of the coarser minded people here made many cruel jokes, which I believed wounded Miss Murray deeply and by which I was greatly angered. She was cleaned up and redressed however, and brought down to visit Mr. Harker and Lucy, who had come for that purpose.

Miss Murray said nothing to either of them, which was odd, given how lucid she was with me the previous day. I could see how this hurt both Lucy and Mr. Harker, and I truly felt sorry for both of them, watching Mr. Harker hold his fiancée's hand and say to her softly. "Mina, love, please, talk to me…" and seeing Lucy's bright eyes fill with tears and her delightful voice entreat, "Dear Mina, please, we're all just _so _worried…"

But eventually the allotted visiting time was over and Miss Murray had to be brought back to her room. As we left I saw tears in her eyes, and her hand went to the healing wounds on her neck. She still said nothing, however.

August 24th, the Journal of Doctor Seward

I have, for a time, been lax in keeping this journal, because for a time there has been little to report. I find myself increasingly occupied by thoughts of Lucy, especially since work has gone slowly and there have been no recent breakthroughs on any of the cases. But, now, at last, I have something to record, though I wish now that I did not.

The Romanian Count, whose surname, I have found, is Dracula, arrived the night before last and today came to visit my asylum. He struck at first as an odd man, who wore all black, including a long cloak, and who has extraordinarily pale skin. He also seemed to take great care not to stand directly in the light of the then-setting sun. He then, to my astonishment, asked for a tour of the asylum, and to see the patients.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened until we came to Miss Murray's room. I open the door, and he entered, and as soon as Miss Murray caught sight of him an expression of most extreme terror entered her eyes, and she put her hand up to her mouth as though to stop herself from screaming. He stepped forward toward her and reached out to touch her cheek, and she seemed to be trying even harder not to scream. He whispered "Mina…" in that heavy accent of his, and she looked away, as though trying not to meet his eyes, but he touched her cheek again, forcing her to. He then looked at me. "This woman should not be here. She is perfectly sane."

He could be none other than Miss Murray's Count! Any good opinion I might have had of Count Dracula disappeared then. "I'm afraid, Sir, that I have seen no evidence of that, and I cannot let a patient go without evidence that they are not a danger to themselves or others."

His voice was dangerous, and it was obvious that he was threatening me. "I know her, and she is not insane, she merely has a tendency to…overreact. It would be such a shame if your fine Asylum was ruined by this one mistake."

I knew that he did have the power to ruin my asylum if he so chose. From all evidence, he had nearly limitless resources, and the leisure to spend his energy on such a thing. I looked helplessly toward the woman even then quivering with fear at his side. "Miss Murray?"

I could barely hear her. "I'll go with him."

Count Dracula did not wait for my permission. Holding Miss Murray's wrist tightly, he moved quickly passed me and through the corridors. They were both silent, and all that could be heard was Renfield's desperate cries. "Master! Why do you take her and not me? Am I not more worthy than she is? Master!"

October 2nd, 1893:

Lucy – now Lady Lucy Godalming – was sitting next to Arthur at a dinner party. Everyone who had any significant status was there, and many people who did not. She wasn't listening very carefully to the conversation going on around her until she noticed a few people next to her discussing in hushed whispers the scandal surrounding a couple who was sitting on the other end of the table, and who no one had seen in public before.

"It's just so odd! He came here all the way from Romaniaonly a few months ago, and then immediately after he came and got her out of the most awful place – can you guess what it is? He got her out of dreadful lunatic asylum! Yes, the woman was insane! They say she was engaged to a Mr. Harker or some such, someone not important, before she was put in the asylum, and they're just the most odd people you can imagine! No one ever see them except at night, and the woman hardly ever talks!"

This couldn't be real, it was impossible…but all the same, Lucy looked down at the other end of the table. There sat Mina, all in black, her brown hair up as she had never worn it when Lucy knew her, with a black ribbon around her neck. And sitting next to her, all in black as well – that must be him, that man who had taken Mina away for Lucy and Jonathan to never see again.

Lucy was on her feet before she knew it, walking toward where Mina and that other man were sitting. But he saw her first, and he turned to Mina. "My love, we are leaving now." She nodded, not even looking up, and stood. He took her hand – Lucy, with a flash of rage, noticed a wedding ring there – and they walked away.

In an instant, it was as though they had never been there, and Lucy started to wonder if they had or not.

She shook her head to clear it of fancies. She was going insane. Maybe she better check herself into Jack's asylum.


End file.
